First let me start this post with an apology. It has been over two weeks since my last post, not that anyone is even reading this. So the last thing I posted was that I was off to sell sports cards in an effort to get some funds for, at the very least, a charging cable for my Nikon Coolpix P530. I also had created an Ebay and Paypal account.

The nuts and bolts of those two accounts goes like this. To start selling stuff on Ebay to generate some extra cash, everything is out of pocket for the first few sales. Those expenses include packaging and shipping. If I were to receive any payments in Paypal I need to have a bank account to receive the money or wait like two weeks for a check. That means if I sell something on Ebay and they pay with Paypal, without a bank account I won’t get the funds to reimburse my self for shipping costs for two weeks.

I am going to put my bank on blast now. I have banked with Key Bank for many years with their hassle-free checking account. With this account you don’t get charged any fees, no minimum balance and there is supposed to be overdraft protection. Over the last 2 years there hasn’t been much activity on my account but I know it had a balance. On September 11th, 2018 I went to my local branch of Key Bank with cash in my pocket to make a deposit at the drive-thru ATM.

I put my card in and entered my PIN. Just to verify how much I needed to deposit, I hit the buttons to check my balance. It spit out a receipt saying that the transaction couldn’t be completed. I assumed I couldn’t make the deposit if I couldn’t even check my balance, so I went around to the lobby.

I went in and noticed the the bank was basically empty except for the staff and one customer. I went up to one of the tellers and explained that I couldn’t check my balance. She had me swipe my card and enter my PIN. After a minute or two she tells me that my account was closed July 9th. I responded by letting her know that I didn’t close my account. She then explained to me that there was nothing she could do and that I would have to go to the branch where I created the account.

I am disabled on state assistance with $94 a month for expenses(fuel, bus tickets, tp, co-pays, etc.). So with two more doctor appointments this month I don’t have the budget to drive to my home branch and back. So when I got home from my errand I called my home branch of Key Bank to see if I could straighten things out over the phone. The branch was pretty busy so they took my information so they could call me back. They called me back at 4:50pm.

When they called me back I give her the details and explain what has happened. She tells me that it was my fault, and that I have been sent to collections for a negative balance of $-5.77. I asked her if Key Bank was in the business of telling stores customers have money in their account when they don’t so you can send them to collections. She then explained that it was only $5.77 and that I could just come in and pay it off so they could reopen the account. She said it in a way that kind of made me feel ashamed, like it wasn’t that big of a deal to drive to my home branch or why are you banking if you don’t have $6. I shouldn’t have to explain my situation, but I did. She then says why don’t you just go back to the branch you went to today and pay them.

I asked her what she meant and she said I could pay it at any branch. At this point I get really mad because I was just at a branch to do just that. Not only was I just at a branch to do that, there was plenty of staff available with only one other customer. The teller I spoke with didn’t bother to make the call my home branch for me, she didn’t bother to try to collect the $5.77, she told me incorrect information leading me on a three hour phone tag journey for nothing and ended up being no help at all.

Now, I sit at home not being able to do any banking until maybe next month if I decide to go back to Key Bank. I should charge Key Bank for my time ($15/hr x 3). I should charge Key Bank an overdraft fee for allowing a store to charge more money on my card than I have in my account ($35). I should charge Key Bank a fee for losses from my Ebay store ($300). What really baffles me more than anything is I was in the bank with cash in my pocket to resolve Key Bank’s screw up and the Key Bank Employee that thinks she helped me made things worse.

My next step was to call the local branch I went to and speak with the branch manager about this situation. The lady I spoke with said that they were closing pretty soon and the manager was with someone. She then asked if she could take my information to have the manager call me back the following day. I said yes, gave her my name, phone number and let her know the reason I was calling was to discuss my visit that day.

I am writing this 16 days after my visit, and I still haven’t got a return phone call from the branch manager. Am I supposed to call my bank back to remind them to call me? This is only one of the small speed bumps I had to run over.